Summary

“And Boom, Bam, Pyckal the Baron by the belly clutched, and the Accomptant Cieciszowski there the Elders titter so they Totter, here Pani Dowalewiczowa squeals, tears sheds, squeals and Bam, Boom roars; Spits, snorts from laughter the reverend Parson, and Muszka and Tuśka so Skip about now their noses are besnotted! Laughter then Boomed!”

Janusz Bruchalski illustrates Trans-Atlantyk.

« “I, Gombrowicz, make the acquaintance of a puto (a queer) who is in love with a young Pole, and circumstances make me arbiter of the situation: I can throw the young man into the queer’s arms or make him stay with his father, a very honourable, dignified and old-fashioned Polish major.

“To throw him into the puto’s arms is to deliver him up to vice, to set him on roads which lead nowhere, into the troubled waters of the abnormal, of limitless liberty, of an uncontrollable future. “To wrench him away from the queer and make him return to his father is to keep him within the confines of the honest Polish tradition. “What should I choose? Fidelity to the past ... or the freedom to create oneself as one will? Shut him into his atavistic form ... or open the cage, let him fly away and do what he likes! Let him create himself!”